David Robert Mitchell has never seemed particularly interested in giving audiences exactly the movie they think they’re getting. It Follows turned a seemingly simple supernatural curse into an unnerving meditation on intimacy and mortality, while Under the Silver Lake gleefully disappeared down its own paranoid rabbit holes. So perhaps it makes perfect sense that Mitchell’s long-held desire to make a dinosaur movie has resulted in The End of Oak Street, a creature feature where the creatures are only part of the attraction.
After a mysterious cosmic event quite literally rips Oak Street from its comfortable suburban surroundings and transports the neighbourhood somewhere unknown, the Platt family quickly discovers that whatever domestic problems seemed insurmountable beforehand are considerably less pressing when enormous prehistoric creatures are suddenly wandering past their front door.
Running at a refreshingly neat 99 minutes, The End of Oak Street takes its time before unleashing its more fantastical elements. Mitchell is initially far more interested in establishing the fractured dynamic of the Platt family, particularly parents Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor), whose marriage appears to be approaching an inevitable conclusion. Their unhappiness has become noticeable enough that their children, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), are already sensing the separation before either parent has properly acknowledged it.
That tension proves crucial once the film’s dinosaur hook comes into play. Suddenly Denise and Greg have considerably more immediate concerns than their simmering resentment, and survival forces them to recognise that beneath whatever anger has accumulated between them, genuine love and care still remain. Mitchell isn’t necessarily arguing that a dinosaur attack is the secret to successful couples therapy, but watching two people rediscover why they once relied on each other gives the ensuing spectacle an emotional foundation it otherwise could have lacked.
The reason dinosaurs – along with some other decidedly unpleasant creatures – suddenly arrive on Oak Street isn’t subjected to exhaustive explanation. That’s ultimately for the better. Mitchell provides enough science-fiction scaffolding to make the premise work, but The End of Oak Street isn’t particularly concerned with constructing an elaborate mythology around what has happened. Sometimes a suburban neighbourhood gets transported somewhere impossible and dinosaurs start roaming the streets. Best to embrace it rather than overthink it.
There’s a distinct J.J. Abrams-meets-1980s/90s-Spielberg quality to proceedings (which makes sense given Abrams is on hand as producer), particularly in the way extraordinary phenomena are filtered through an ordinary family. Mitchell has spoken about wanting to recapture an era of blockbuster filmmaking where character and spectacle weren’t mutually exclusive, and that influence is evident throughout. Oak Street itself feels tangible and lived-in, with its early-80s setting rendered through homes cluttered with the accumulated possessions of actual families rather than screaming their period credentials through excessive nostalgia.
That approach inevitably means The End of Oak Street isn’t the relentless dinosaur carnage its premise might suggest, and one suspects that will prove divisive. Mitchell wants the Platts to be people rather than potential dinosaur food, and substantial stretches are devoted to their relationships rather than prehistoric mayhem. Anyone arriving purely to watch Hathaway and McGregor sprint away from hungry dinosaurs may find themselves wondering when the next attack is coming.
When Mitchell does let the creatures loose, though, there are some wonderfully constructed set-pieces. One particularly memorable sequence involving an enormous snake-like creature slowly slithering its way through the Platt residence finds a wicked sense of humour in transforming the familiar geography of a family home into an obstacle course. The film understands that sometimes the funniest possible image is also the most terrifying one.
Despite its creatures showing very little mercy, The End of Oak Street remains surprisingly bloodless. Mitchell doesn’t rely on gore to communicate danger, instead favouring suspense, scale and the sudden realisation that not everybody wandering around this neighbourhood is necessarily going to make it out alive. There are some genuine surprises regarding who falls victim – and, occasionally, how – that prevent the film’s relative restraint from making it feel entirely safe.
The human material isn’t always as assured. There’s a slight awkwardness to some of the film’s early exchanges, particularly in McGregor’s delivery, and the opening domestic scenes occasionally feel more constructed than natural. Once Oak Street’s circumstances become considerably less ordinary, however, the ensemble settles into a more convincing rhythm. Hathaway brings an essential emotional grounding to Denise, while Stella and Convery ensure Audrey and Brian aren’t merely children waiting to be rescued.
There’s something charmingly sincere about Mitchell making a dinosaur movie and deciding that the dinosaurs shouldn’t necessarily be the most important thing in it. The inspiration reportedly came from an image he imagined while walking through his own neighbourhood – a dinosaur casually digging through rubbish in an otherwise mundane suburban alleyway – and The End of Oak Street is at its strongest when preserving that same collision of the extraordinary and the completely ordinary.
Those expecting a ferocious creature feature may consequently find Mitchell’s comparatively gentle approach frustrating, especially when the film seems perfectly capable of delivering bigger thrills whenever it chooses. But there’s an admirable confidence in refusing to turn every prehistoric arrival into another action sequence.
The End of Oak Street may have dinosaurs stomping through suburbia, but Mitchell ultimately remains more fascinated by the family hiding inside the house. The spectacle is entertaining, occasionally surprising and sometimes very funny, but it’s the Platts learning that their survival depends upon reconnecting with one another that gives this peculiar dinosaur movie its unexpected heart.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The End of Oak Street is now screening in Australian theatres.
